


The Shopaholic And The Emo

by allicekitty13



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, OOC Rosalie, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21658609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allicekitty13/pseuds/allicekitty13
Summary: Alice is the eccentric, bubbly girl who's a friend to everyone. What happens when she befriends a new student with a secret.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Charlie Swan/Original Female Character, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so this is my first upload to AO3. I originally posted this on FF.net roughly 10 years ago with my then best friend. I'm working to bring it up to date and make it more readable. It will be a work in progress as there were quite a few plot holes we didn't see at 15. But that being said it was well-received when it was first posted and I hope to make it even better.

I was in the cafeteria eating lunch with Bella and Rosalie. Well, to be honest with myself, I was trying to eat lunch with Bella and Rosalie. It was made a bit difficult by Rosalie unabashedly flirting with a new student she'd met that morning. I quickly decided it would be easier to finish my meal without the distraction and began to scope the outdoor seating area for another table. It didn't take me long to spot an unfamiliar face in the corner sitting under a tree. He was by himself with no lunch tray absentmindedly paging through a book. Deciding today was as good as any to make I new friend, I abandoned my tray and headed in his direction.

"Alice?" I heard the voice of one of my best friends from behind me. I turned to see Edward, who had clearly just left the lunch line judging by the untouched tray in his hands. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I don't have the slightest idea where you're going, but I'm getting far away from your cousin and her new friend." I gestured to our usual table where my step sister was staring at us. "Look, Rose is making me a bit uncomfortable. I'm going to try and make a new friend. Go sit with Bella, we both know she doesn't like being alone with Rose."

Edward followed my gaze, eyes landing on his clearly uncomfortable girlfriend. "You do make a good point, I'll see you later."

"Bye," I giggled, watching him dutifully stride over to Bella's side. I then turned and continued over the mysterious boy under the tree. "Mind if I sit here?"

He looked up at me with curiosity in his crystal green eyes. "Sure, I guess." He tentatively responded with a smooth southern drawl. Delighted, I sat criss-cross in the grass across from him. He'd looked interesting from across the way, but being up close gave me pause. "So... are you just going to stare at me or...?"

"I'm sorry," I muttered, feeling myself begin to blush from embarrassment.

"Are you? Because if you've come over here to make fun of me, you can take your leave."

"No!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I swear I didn't come over here to be mean. I have a bad habit of staring; I swear it'll be the death of me. You can learn a lot from a person by watching them, though..." I caught myself on my words, realizing how awful that statement came off. "Oh my god! I'm so so sorry, that sounded really bad. Look, we're off to a bad start. My name is Alice Brandon." I smiled cheerfully.

He took a moment to consider my words. "Jasper Whitlock."

"Oh, Whitlock. Is Emmett your brother then?" I gestured over at Rosalie and the boy she's been distracted with all day.

He nodded, "Yeah, you a friend of his?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Did he send you to check on me?"

"Honestly, I haven't had much of a chance to talk to him. Although, it seems he and Rosalie are getting along well."

"Who's Rosalie?"

"I guess, a friend? She's Edward's cousin, so we hang out. Honestly, we don't get along. She thinks I'm weird, and I think she's a bitch." I giggled.

"Edward, Your boyfriend?"

"Oh, Lord, no!" I had to laugh. "No, he's been my neighbor and best friend since we were kids. Also, he's dating Bella, my step-sister."

"Cool"

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"I don't" He smiled. "You do, don't you."

"Generally. One of the many things I'm known for. Talking, staring, offering my opinion to people who didn't ask for it. The list goes on, to be fair, you're quite easy to talk to."

"Thanks, I think."

"So... why did you think I came over to make fun of you? And why would your brother send me to check on you."

"You ask a lot of questions, Alice Brandon." He said as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"Well, it was nice talking to you, I hope we have some classes together." I meant that. This Jasper fellow had my interest piqued. I had a strong feeling he was going to be important. My thoughts drifted to how he was very nice to look at. He could use some fashion help, that was for sure. Hopefully, as our friendship blossomed, I could offer him a makeover. That thought put a smile on my face as I arrived at the locker I shared with Bella.

"Hey, girl." She said as she grabbed her books. "So, what was with you at lunch?"

"For real!" Rosalie chimed in as she opened her locker. "You totally ditched us for that weird kid."

"I don't know... he seemed lonely and interesting." I gave her a look of suspicion. "Why? You haven't been giving him a hard time, have you?" I didn't hate Rosalie. But she was straightforward and didn't always realize when she was being mean. Excluding the times she was being mean on purpose... which was often.

"Ugh, you have got to be kidding me," She slammed he locker shut. "He's a weirdo, sweetie."

"Weren't you the one who said we should make the school a welcoming environment to new students?"

"When did I say that?"

"3rd-period gym when you ditched me as your partner for Emmett!"

"Ok, you're going to make me late, and arguing causes wrinkles. Just don't become weirder than you already are. It's embarrassing enough hanging around you already." She flipped her hair with a note of finality and strutted off to her next class.

"Look, Alice," Bella said, "I think it's sweet that you have a crush on that kid, don't listen to Rose."

"Who said anything about a crush?" I rolled my eyes, and we took off down the hall. "I just thought he seemed interesting."

"Whatever you say, sweetie," She laughed as we turned into history. She managed to trip over her own feet and slid into her shared desk with Rosalie, knocking everything off in the process.

"BELLA!" Rosalie screeched. "What are you doing! Anyway, I need you to sit somewhere else today. I promised Emmett my seat."

"I mean, Ok then..."

"You can sit with me, Bella." Edward swooped in, seeing the uncomfortable look on his girlfriend's face. "Assuming Alice is fine with giving up her seat."

Bella shot me a pleading look, and I gave in. "Fine, but I won't be happy about it." I took a look around the room and spotted an empty seat next to none other than Jasper. "On second thought, this might be Ok."

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Edward asked.

"Our little Alice has a little crush on Emmett's brother." Bella laughed.

"Oh my God, Bella! First of all, he has a name. It's Jasper. Secondly, I don't have a crush on him! I'm just trying to make new friends." I shot her a look and headed off his direction. 

"Hey Jasper, mind if I sit with you again? See, Rosalie gave your brother Bella's spot. So Edward gave Bella my spot, which I guess is Ok cause I like talking to you. Well, I guess I like talking at you because you don't say much. But the point is, do you mind if I sit here?"

"Did you breath at all there?"

"No? I'm sorry, I talk too much. I can shut up. Unless you don't want me to shut up. Cause I can talk for hours, I..."

"Alice. It's fine. Sit... and maybe breathe." I took a deep breath and slid into the seat next to him. "I don't mind talking to you." He paused. "Maybe we should hang out sometime if you're going to be following me around anyway."

"Oh, I'm sorry if you think I'm following you around. I can leave you alone if you'd like."

"Alice, I was joking. About the following me around, not the hanging out."

"Oh," I smiled. "Sure, we should go to the mall sometime or something..."

"MISS BRANDON!" My attention was grabbed by a loud voice calling my name from the front of the room. "I do believe we've discussed you talking in my classroom."

"Of course, Mr. Binns. I'm sorry."

"And Mr. Whitlock, not a good first impression. I assume it won't happen again." With that, he turned to the whiteboard and resumed his lesson. I lowered my head and began taking notes. After a moment, Jasper slid a piece of paper over to me. 'Thanks for getting me in trouble in my favorite class ;)' I blushed and tried to pay attention.

The class seemed to drag on, but eventually, the bell rang. "Hey," Jasper turned to me as we were collecting our things. "I hope you know I'm not actually upset. The note and all."

"Yeah, the analog emoji kind of tipped me off. I am sorry for getting you in trouble. I'm terrible in history, so Mr. Binns and I don't get along. I think he takes it personally. He's been here so long I'm pretty sure he's lived most of it." I laughed at my terrible joke.

Jasper smiled at me. "Well, I wasn't kidding when I said it's my favorite. Maybe I could tutor you?"

"I'd like that," I said, "Here I'll give you my number, we could set something up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say that, at this point the title has little to do with the actual story. Emo was a much bigger trend when this was originally written. I don't talk to the co-writer much anymore and I'm tentative to make many changes to things she originally came up with, such as the title. 
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed reading this, if anyone has any constructive comments I'm happy to hear them. Thank you for taking the time to read this work. 
> 
> Oh, and props if you caught the Harry Potter reference.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr at allicekitty13.tumblr.com/


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jasper is a band geek, Ok. I can EASILY see him spending as much time as possible locked in a practice room.  
> This decision also stems from my having been out of HS for like eight years. I don't remember much, but what I do remember centers on band because I was your typical band kid. If anyone who's been in HS more recently has any corrections or suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.

"Bella?" I knocked on the door to my sister's room. I paused briefly before cracking it open and trying again. "Bells, mom says it's time to get up." This scenario was somewhat of a mourning routine, Bella not being a morning person in the least. 

"What time is it," came a groggy reply muffled by the blankets still pulled over her head. 

"7:20," If you get up now, you might have time to eat something other than room temperature Poptarts. 

"Why didn't anyone wake me earlier." She exclaimed, tossing the blankets entirely off the bed and snapping to her feet. I wanted to mention that this was the third attempt made or that she had thrown a pillow at Charlie the first time. But there was no sense in further agitating her when she was already grumpy. That being said, I merely ignored the question and headed downstairs. 

"She's up. Agitated, but awake." I told my mom as I sat down and pulled out my sketchbook. I knew I should probably be studying for history as I was failing. My terrible grades in the class were a source of amusement to my friends. At the same time, it was a source of friction between my parents and I. It's not that the past didn't capture my attention, just not the ones covered in class. Of course, Mr. Binns, nearly putting me to sleep every day, honestly didn't help matters. "Hopefully, Jasper wasn't kidding about the tutoring," I muttered to myself.

"Still droning on about the new kid, are you?" Bella laughed, taking a seat next to me. 

"Will you give it a rest? Yesterday I mentioned I struggle in history, and he offered to help me out. It's a subject he enjoys."

"Yeah, Alice. That's definitely all that's going on here." 

"Let's just leave before we're late." I rolled my eyes. I gave Bella a moment to grab her daily Poptarts from the cupboard and Starbucks from the fridge. I called out a goodbye to my mom, and we were finally out the door." 

Edward was waiting for us on the front steps, book in hand, as usual. "Sup, guys. Cutting it close again." 

"Well, if your girlfriend would just invest in an alarm clock, we'd get out a lot earlier." My comment earned me a punch in the arm from my sister. Rolling my eyes, I ignored the duo for the rest of the walk to school. As we approached the building, a ruckus caught my eye. Of course, it was Rose... being Rose. She was sat with her friends, taunting Jasper of all people. I sighed deeply and made my way over to step in. "Hey, Jasper, what's going on?" I smiled brightly at him, "Wanna walk with me to my locker? I had some questions about that history lesson yesterday." This subject was beneficial on two fronts. It got him away from the group of terrible teens, as well as an opportunity to ask about his tutoring offer.

Jasper shrugged and followed me. "What was your question about history?" 

"Right so... remember when I said It's not exactly my best subject? Well, I was one-hundred percent underselling things. I was kind of wondering if that offer to help was a real deal. Like I'm pretty sure, mom and Charlie are going to ground me for forever if I don't get something figured out soon. I mean, they aren't like super stringent about grades or anything, but by underselling things, I mean I'm straight-up failing. Like if Binns could give me a worse grade than an F he would, probably petitioning Principal Tate to give me a Z as we speak and..."

Jasper shrugged and followed me. "What was your question about history?" 

"Right so... remember when I said It's not exactly my best subject? Well, I was one-hundred percent underselling things. I was kind of wondering if that offer to help was a real deal. Like I'm pretty sure, mom and Charlie are going to ground me for forever if I don't get something figured out soon. I mean, they aren't like super stringent about grades or anything, but by underselling things, I mean I'm straight-up failing. Like if Binns could give me a worse grade than an F, he would, probably petitioning Principal Tate to give me a Z as we speak and..."

"Hey, Alice. You're rambling again." He was smiling and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I was serious about helping you study. Do you have a free period, or we could meet up after school if you wanted?" 

"I've got a free period right after history."

"I've got Algebra that period."

"After school, then?"

"Works for me, Alice. I have to get to band, so I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, I'll see you at lunch."

"Yeah, lunch sounds good." He nodded slightly and walked off. I continued off to my favorite class, art. Of course, the relaxing atmosphere always made it pass by too quickly, and before I knew it, the bell was ringing, and it was off to chemistry. I didn't mind the class too much; it was mainly just math, and math was fine by me. I also had the class with Edward, which didn't hurt anything. Before I knew it, the bell rang again, signaling my fate: third period- gym.

Not wanting to go, I dawdled at my locker with Edward. "It's not that bad, Alice." He tried to reassure me.

"Easy for you to say, you've never had to experience the girl's locker room. It's not exactly fun, nor is having Rose as your gym partner." I gently closed my locker, having put everything away, and leaned against it. "To be fair, she's probably going to ditch me again. I honestly don't know what's worse. Being the only one partnerless or working with Rosalie. You know my horoscope said it would be a perfect day. I don't want to say the stars are wrong. But I feel like the stars might have gotten something mixed up."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, and it's not even noon yet. Don't you have a lunch date." He snickered. 

"It's not a date... how did you even know about that." 

"Brass players gotta stick together, kiddo. Anyway, we gotta get going."

I rolled my eyes and followed after him, parting ways at the locker rooms. I took a deep breath to steady myself before entering. Walking in, I made a point of ignoring all the comments. 'Alice so tiny is she even old enough to go here.', 'You'd think witch girl could cast herself some boobs.', 'Rosalie, you're so nice to take pity on the kid.' 

Blocking it out, I changed and headed out to the floor, surprised to see Rosalie waiting for me. "What happened to Emmett?"

"I needed to talk to you." She stated it as the most obvious thing in the world as she started stretching. "What was that earlier? Are you actively trying to ruin any chance at a proper social circle completely?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Spending so much time with that Jasper kid. I don't like him."

"I doubt you know him terribly well, considering he's only been here a day and a half." 

"I went to Emmett's house after school yesterday. He's super secretive and... I don't know. There's just something off about him." She took off to start laps, I followed next to her, struggling to keep up. "I mean, who wears long sleeves in August, he eats lunch in the office, he looked at his phone in the middle of English and just left the room. It's weird he's hiding something. I know you want to be friends with everyone." She stopped suddenly and looked at me seriously. "Look, I know I'm blunt, and I'm not the easiest person to be around. I know we have our differences and don't always get along. But, it's not on purpose; it's self-defense. Half the time I don't realize I'm doing it. I actually don't hate you, believe it or not, and I'm not interested in seeing something bad happen to you because you got attached to the wrong people." 

"Thanks, Rose." I frowned, I knew Rose was defensive, I knew something terrible must have happened for her to move in with Edward's family suddenly two years ago, but I'd never pried. She was a lot to deal with, but she did always apologize when she crossed a line. Deciding I'd talk to Jasper at lunch, I ran to catch up with Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited to see if anyone has figured out what Jasper is hiding based on the limited info in this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I tried to give Alice some more depth in this chapter. I also tried to drop some more hints as to what's up with Jasper.

After gym, I searched the Junior hallway for Jasper. I was equally excited about talking to him and curious about what Rosalie had told me. Spotting him by his locker, I skipped over. "Hey, you," I said, smiling brightly. "Ready to get some food?"

"Oh, I've actually gotta head to the nurse's office first."

"Is everything Ok?"

"Yeah, it's all good. I'll meet you outside, Ok?"

I was suspicious but decided it best to let the subject be for the moment. "Sure, I guess." I bit my lip. "I'll see you out there."  
Thought's swarmed my mind as I went through the lunch line. I hoped Jasper was Ok, but it did remind me of my conversation with Rose. She'd said he ate lunch in the office. Was he in trouble, was something wrong that he couldn't eat with the rest of us?

Bella's voice broke me from my internal dialogue as I sat at our usual table. "Everything Ok? You're quiet; you're never quiet, and that's mildly concerning me."

"Just a lot on my mind."

"Like what?"

"Like history." She smiled knowingly in my direction, before asking Edward about his morning. It wasn't the truth, but there was no way I was going to admit to Bella I was thinking about Jasper. Shed already convinced herself I had a crush on him for some reason. It's not like I wasn't friends with guys, and it's not like yesterday was the first time I'd ventured out of our little group to make friends. Sure, there were the kids who gave me a hard time, but I wasn't exactly unpopular. My small stature was beneficial in my spot on the cheerleading squad, and I was well-liked in the art club. I didn't spend all of my time with Bella, Edward, and Rosalie, so I didn't understand where she was getting this crush idea.

Once again, I had gotten caught up in my inner monologue, and I hadn't noticed Jasper slide into the seat next to me. "Hey, Alice."

"LITTLE BROTHER!" Called Emmett with an unnecessary amount of volume. Apparently, Jasper's voice had grabbed his attention. "You joining us today?"

"Yeah, Alice invited me."

"Sweet, you go to the nurse?"

"Yes," Jasper rolled his eyes. "I did."

"What is it?" Emmett pressed.

"117."

"Very good, you eat?"

"Christ, Emmett. Yes, I did." Jasper seemed to be getting frustrated by the cryptic conversation.

"Hey, cool down. Just looking out, bro." Emmett seemed satisfied with his questions and went back to chatting with Rosalie, Bella, and Edward.

"So... what was that about?" I asked, curiosity piqued.

"Nothing important."

"Seemed important to your brother." I defended, still trying to figure out what was going on.

"He's just overprotective. I'm sure you know how older siblings can be."

"Well, I don't have any older siblings. Just Bella and Cynthia, my little sister. I do have Edward, and if older siblings are anything like him, I'm sure it's exhausting."

"Exhausting is one word for it." He chuckled, "You two are close, I assume?" He asked, trying to hide that he was eyeing Edward.

"Yeah, we've known each other since my mom, Cynthia, and I moved to Forks. I think I was like seven; his family has always lived next door, so we grew up playing together. He can be kind of overprotective at times, but it's not so hard to remind him I'm perfectly capable of fending for myself. And Charlie is the chief of police, after all. I've been given more self-defense tips than I'll ever have a chance to use."

"You've mentioned Charlie before, who is that?"

"My step-dad, Bella's dad. He's not so bad; I've just never felt comfortable calling him dad. He's cool with it; Cynthia doesn't really remember our father, so she doesn't mind as much. I haven't seen our father since we moved, which is fine with me, honestly."

"You're kind of an open book, aren't you."

"I don't believe in secrets, they just cause problems. You can ask me about anything, and I will give you an honest answer. I'll usually even answer the follow-up questions you haven't asked yet. It's also hard to spread gossip about someone who will willingly tell you anything you want to know. Besides, if you have to keep something a secret, it probably means you need to have an honest conversation with yourself about why. To me, it either means you're unnecessarily ashamed about something, or you're doing something you shouldn't be."

"What if someone tells you something, and they ask you to keep it private?"

"Well, there's an exception to every rule. Unless what that person told me was going to hurt them or somebody else, I'd keep it quiet. Honesty, loyalty, and trust are equally important."

"That's something to think about for sure." He paused. "Do you often have philosophical conversations about morality with people you've just met?" He raised his eyebrows as if the weight of the conversation had just hit him.

"Well, no. Most people try to change the subject to something lighter when I start to overshare. You're the first person who's seemed interested in the conversation." That realization hit me like a truck; he really was the first person other than Edward to take an interest in a conversation like that with me. I smiled; I knew yesterday that he would be important, and I was glad to know I was right. The bell rang, putting our conversation on hold temporarily. I made a mental note to find out when his birthday was. I absolutely needed to check out his horoscope.

My smile stayed plastered to my face as I made my way to my locker. "Daydreaming about Jasper again?" My sister snickered.

"No," I answered curtly.

"Hey, I thought we agreed you'd be wary of that boy." Rosalie suddenly chimed in; it wasn't distaste in her voice like there was yesterday. This time it was genuine worry.

"Have you tried asking Emmett for answers? You two have been seeing a lot of each other, and he is his brother after all."

"I did, he said it wasn't his place to share and got uncomfortable. I'm kinda hoping to ask him out, like on a date, so I didn't really wanna press my luck at the time." She bit her lip, "Just be careful, Ok? You're such an open and nice person. I don't want to see you get taken advantage of... weirdo."

Rosalie left after saying her piece, leaving me alone with Bella. "So, Rose can be nice?"

"Yeah, I guess she can."

"What exactly is she so worried about?" I filled Bella in on the conversation I'd had with Rose in gym on our way to history. "Sounds medical to me, I don't think he's hiding anything bad. I think maybe he's sick and doesn't want anyone to know."

It was a reasonable theory and one I liked better than whatever I'm sure Rose was thinking." I glanced at the blonde, silently grateful to see Emmett in my spot again. I bid goodbye to Bella and sat next to Jasper, who had a notebook open in front of him. "Hey, you, whatcha writing?"

"Oh," He quickly closed the notebook and shoved it in his bag. "Nothing. Ready for your favorite class?"

"Never." I laughed.

"Well, I'll help you study after school. Hopefully, tomorrow, you can come in and wow Mr. Binns into disregarding, giving you a Z."

His comment brought that smile back to my face from earlier. I was delighted he had been paying enough attention to my rambling to remember my terrible joke.  
"Alice," Mr. Binns called my name, "I'm ecstatic that you for once have your mouth shut in my classroom. That is certainly a start, but maybe you could take it upon yourself to pay attention rather than staring into space. Hmm?" Well, that comment sure wiped my smile right off my face. "Now, class. Today we'll be starting work on a research paper. I want you all to partner up and write a five-page report on prohibition.

"Wanna partner up?" I turned to see Jasper staring at me intently.

"Might as well."

"Hey," He suddenly said seriously, "This teacher's a jerk, he shouldn't have called you out like that in front of everyone." He smiled slightly, "You looked really happy before he did that, and after you just looked sad."

"Wow, honestly, thank you." I awkwardly changed the subject, "So prohibition; I'm going to level with you. I don't know anything about the twenties other than they had adorable dresses and contacted the spirit world. Like, I wish we could write a report on something interesting, like how Houdini thought the whole idea of seances was bull and went to extreme lengths to disprove spiritualists as frauds."

"So you do like history." He looked impressed.

"Maybe I just like dresses and ghosts." I teased just as the bell rang. "You may never know."

"Sure, Alice," He rolled his eyes, following me out of the classroom. "So, what are you going to do for your free period?"

"I'm gonna go down to the art room and work on my project."

"What kind of project?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"Oh, it's a dress."

"A dress for art?"

"Yes, a dress for art. I'm making a floor-length evening gown entirely out of soda tabs." I took a moment to let him believe the lie before cracking up. "I'm kidding! The school doesn't think clothes or makeup can be art, which is wrong. But I am doing a portrait, Audrey Hepburn, out of broken pieces of stained glass, and I need to finish the dress."

"That sounds like an insane amount of work." He had that cute impressed look on his face again.

"It is, but I'm delighted with it so far. I'm excited to see it when it's finished. After grading, I'm going to give it to my mom for her birthday. She loves Audrey Hepburn, she actually almost named me Audrey, but my dad didn't like it."

"Jokes on your dad, you kind of look like her."

"Now, that is a compliment." I stopped in front of the entrance to the arts hall. "Well, this is my stop. Good luck in algebra."

"Good luck with the glass dress." He started to walk off but turned to add something. "You'll have to let me see it when it's done."


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of my day passed by in a blur, and I found myself wishing I'd had more classes with Jasper or really any of my close friends. That being said, the second the final bell rang, I was filled with excitement. I left homeroom and rushed down the hall, scanning the passing students for my new friend. In my distraction, I wasn't paying attention and ran right into Rosalie. "Ugh, would it kill you to pay attention to your surroundings? I expect this behavior from Bella but not from you."

"Hi Rose," I rolled my eyes, ignoring her comments.

"Anyway," She rolled her own eyes right back. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go shopping."

"Well, normally, I would love that, but I have plans today."

"You're not spending more time with Jasper, are you?" She asked, concern suddenly lacing her voice. I nodded, and she sighed, "Alice, please please be careful. He's definitely hiding something, and I don't trust it."

"Bella thinks it might be something medical," I answered simply as if that would erase her fears.

"If it was medical, why would he keep it a secret? That doesn't make sense."

"I don't know, Rose, I know you have your concerns, and I appreciate you looking out for me. But, I'm choosing to give him the benefit of the doubt. If this whole thing backfires, you can be the first one to laugh and say you told me so."

"Alice," She pulled me into a hug, "I won't do that. I would never ever make a dig at something that would genuinely hurt you." She released me and looked at me seriously, "I'll be one of the first people on your side when..." She paused and rethought her words. "If this goes badly, just promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise Rose, thank you."

"Are you sure I can't convince you to go shopping with me instead?"

"Yeah, we're going to work on that history report. Jasper is trying to help me raise my grade."

"So, he thinks he can do the impossible?" She jabbed.

"Clearly." I laughed.

"Who thinks they can do the impossible?" I head Jasper's voice from behind me.

"You," Rosalie stated simply. "Trying to raise Alice's history grade is a lost cause. She turned to face me, "I'll see you later, Alice, call me so we can schedule that shopping trip."

"She got out of here in a hurry." Jasper commented as we walked down the hall."

"Yeah, that's Rose for you."

"I don't think she likes me." He laughed.

"So, where are we headed?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Library?"

"Sure, it's close, so we'll be able to get more work done before I have to go."

"How long can you stay?" He asked as we entered the school library and took a seat at one of the tables in the back corner.

"About an hour, Edward and Bella have debate team, and there's no way I'm letting them walk home alone after that." I laughed, earning myself a shush from Mrs. T, the librarian. Quieting my voice, I continued, "They're not too bad, but if they get placed on opposing sides, they have trouble turning it off."

"Oh, Ok." I couldn't help but notice a hint of disappointment in his voice. "So, you're not doing so great in history. I noticed earlier it holds your interest enough to remember some aspects, but not enough to pass the class. What do you think is the problem?"

"Honestly?" I asked, and he nodded in response. "It's partly the subject matter; I wasn't completely kidding about the dresses and ghosts factor. It's hard to focus on learning about the same war every year when there are many more interesting subject matters we could be covering. Like the feud between Edison and Tesla..."

"Alice, you're deflecting."

"You're going to make me be completely honest, aren't you." I frowned.

"I can't help you if you're not."

"It's hard to focus, Ok." I relented. "Everything blurs together; I get it history is important. But I can't keep up. I was really lucky when I brought up the spiritualism stuff. Part of me honestly couldn't remember if that actually was the twenties. For all, I know that could have been some Civil War background noise." I buried my head in my arms on the table.

"Alice," I lifted my head slightly at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder to find him looking at me intently. "First of all, you'll get this, I'm not going to give up until we get you at least a passing grade. Everyone has a subject they struggle with. I'm terrible with math if it makes you feel any better. Second, you weren't wrong on either front. The spiritualism movement took place from the late 1860s throughout the twenties."

"I think that's the most I've heard you say at one time." I giggled.

"There's no sense talking unless you have something meaningful to say or someone worth saying it too." He stared at me before looking away and moving on. "So, what I've learned so far is you like bringing up dresses and ghosts, the facts seem to blur together, and you tend to space out in class."

"I never said I space out in class."

"Alice, I've been sitting next to you in that classroom for two days. You space out."

"Huh, you're really just gonna call me out like that."

"Sure am." He laughed, "So, what do you think about when you space out."

"Things I'd rather be doing, whatever project I've been working on for art, the dress I'm making for homecoming, this guy I may or may not have a crush on... I haven't figured that out yet, astrology, tarot..." I cut myself off, hardly able to believe I'd said that. I hadn't even asked myself if I might have a crush on Jasper, and here I was telling Jasper that I think about how I may or may not have a crush on him. Of course, he had no way of knowing I was talking about him. Not that it mattered, there was no way he'd had enough time to think about me like that over the course of two days.

I cursed my inability to shut up and chanced a look at him. He looked like a deer in the headlights. Did he somehow know I was talking about him? "So," He asked after a minute of awkward silence. "Who's this guy?"

"Confidential until I figure some things out." I pulled myself back together. It wasn't a lie; nobody was learning about my maybe crush until I figured out if I even had a crush. Of course, there was also his secret sitting in the back of my mind.

"I mean, no offense." I opened my mouth, realizing he almost looked disappointed. "I just... don't even know myself if it is anything. I haven't even told Edward or Bella. She does keep insisting I have a crush on this guy, though. Heck, maybe that's what's confusing me, my sister, butting her nose into things. I could easily not have a crush but think I do because she keeps saying I do. Or on the flip side, maybe I do like this guy, but I think I don't out of spite just to prove her wrong."

"Hey," He grabbed my hand gently. "It's ok. You'll figure it out on your own time. Ignore your sister; just listen to your heart." Just then, his phone made a noise. He pulled it out and looked at the notification as a pained look drew over his face. "Fuck!" He quickly gathered his things and stood. "Alice, I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

I gathered my things and went to sit in the cafeteria. I pulled out my math homework to distract myself as I waited for Edward and Bella.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to be honest with you guys, I'm 100% making most of this up as I go along. I love this fic, and it holds an important place in my heart. It's more of a passion project than anything. As I've said before, this was a project that started ten years ago with a friend. It's been a challenge to piece the pieces we'd already written together with no input from her.  
> This is something that I need to do for myself and my own emotional well being to move on. It just bothers me, I know this is not good, I know I can do better than what I've been producing. I also really struggle with writing from the first-person point of view. It's also been a hindrance having been out of HS since 2011. I honestly have no idea how modern HS works, I didn't do much when I was actually in HS (Fun fact: Your girl literally skipped her gym final once.) It wasn't a good time in my life.  
> That being said, I truly hope anyone who's reading this is enjoying the story. I am determined to power through and finish this little story and am eternally grateful to every single person reading along <3 Reviews help x1000 so if you have anything to say good or bad PLEASE let me know <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how I said I've been piecing this together and filling in plot holes? This chapter was originally posted as chapter two. That means I had to create three chapters worth of original storyline to fill in the plot holes between this and chapter one.

Once my friends had finally left debate team, we walked home together as usual. I kept to myself, unable to stop thinking about Jasper. Upon reaching my house, I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I almost walked past.  
"Um, Alice? Where are you going?" Bella asked, reaching for my arm.

"What?" I came back to reality and looked around at my surroundings. "Oh, sorry, Bells. I was thinking."

"About Jasper." She teased with a knowing smirk.

Rolling my eyes, I walked up to the house and headed for the stairs. Ignoring my mother's greeting. I went directly to my room to continue my homework.

I lost myself in my thoughts; how could I just blurt out my maybe crush to the object of said crush. Sure, Jasper was really attractive. Sure he smelled good, and my heart felt like it would jump out my chest every time he'd touched me today. Sure, when he looked at me, I felt like I could tell him anything and everything.  
I prided myself on my honesty and not holding anything back. Still, even with the people closest to me, I was able to keep things to myself until I understood them.  
But, was that enough to constitute a crush on someone I'd known for two days? I mean, I'd never dated before or even thought about dating. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I'd never actually had a crush before. This was new territory for me.  
After roughly an hour, my attention was grabbed by Bella, waving her hand in front of my face. "Alice... hey Alice."

"What!" I jumped.

"Are you even concentrating on your homework?"

"Of course, why?" I asked in confusion.

"Because you have 'Jasper' for every answer" She grabbed the paper to examine it more closely. "Including your name."

"Well," I struggled to come up with an excuse. "That's... That's because I'm writing a report on the Jasper plant. I think it might be endangered. It's a pretty big deal, I'm surprised you haven't heard about it."

"For math?" She raised an eyebrow, indicating that she most definitely did not believe me. "Well, I came in here to tell you that you left your phone downstairs and missed a call from Jasper."

"What! Why didn't you say anything sooner?" I stood in a panic.

"Because I'm lying."

"Why would you do that."

"To prove a point."

"Why would you choose someone I don't care about at all?"

Bella rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Anyway, the real reason I came up here is mom says dinner is ready." She cast me a final look before exiting the room and heading downstairs.

I followed and took a seat next to her at the dining table. "Seriously, Bella, I couldn't care less."

"What couldn't you care less about, sweetie?" My mom asked earnestly, walking out of the kitchen. She took a seat at the table and looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"Nothing, mom," I sighed, sinking into my chair.

"So girls, did anything interesting happen at school today?" Mom asked, loading up her plate.

"We got to know the new students a little better," Bella said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Mom cast her a disapproving look, and Bella swallowed before continuing. "It's actually been kind of funny, Rose is all over one of them, Emmett and..."

"Oh?" Charlie interrupted her. "Are the Whitlock's in your class? I met their father today; seems like a good family."

"Yeah, Dad," Bella continued in annoyance. "Alice is totally..."

"Stuffed and ready to be excused." I cut her off before she could finish. I cast a pleading glance at my mother, who nodded hesitantly in approval. "I'm going to take a walk."

"What's with her?" I overheard my younger sister Cynthia asking as I shut the door behind me. I walked across the street to a small park and took a seat on a swing.

"Fuck it," I said to the empty playground. This was obviously something, and the sooner I admitted I had feelings for this guy, the better. I was driving myself insane. I just sat there, reflecting on this new information. My enjoyment of the peace and quiet didn't last long as shortly after sitting down, I could hear footsteps behind me.

"What do you want, Bella?" I sighed, silently noting I'd been doing that a lot lately.

"What is with you." She demanded, taking the swing next to me. "You've been uncharacteristically quiet and snappy. OH. MY. GOD. DID YOU SWITCH BRAINS WITH ROSE?"

No, Bella, I'd just like to be alone." I really just wanted nothing more than some time by myself with my thoughts. Bella was right; I had been acting out of character. I knew myself, and unless I sorted out what I was feeling, this was just going to keep getting worse. I knew mom and Charlie were more supportive than Edgar, my male biological parent. But I was sure even they would want me checked out if I started displaying erratic behavior. I'd had enough hospitals and mental health experts to last a lifetime.

"Alice, please just talk to me." Bella once again brought me back to reality. I began to open my mouth when she rose her hand to point at me as though she were scolding a child. "And no half-truths, either young lady."

I shot her a glare before responding. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"I want to know what I already asked, what exactly has been up with you? You were staring at Jasper all through history, I mean, did you even get any work done? When we were walking home, you almost passed the house. Then you shut yourself in your room to do math homework on a 'plant'" She raised her hands to form air quotes around the word. "And at dinner, you freaked out when I brought up his name!"

"Obviously, I can explain all that."

"Well, I'm all ears." She scoffed.

"I was staring because I think he has cool hair. I was distracted by how excited I am to work on my report about the plant. I also shut myself in my room to focus on the report because saving the planet is important. And I freaked out at dinner because I'm getting tired of you insisting that I have a crush on some kid I couldn't care less about!"

"Wow, that hurts Alice." Bella and I simultaneously stood in shock and turned to see none other than Jasper behind us, leaning against a tree.

"Well, then." Bella stammered in shock. "I think I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." With that, she ran back to the house.

"Jasper?" I choked out, for once at a loss for words, "How did you know where I live?"

He pointed to a house just down the street from my own. "I didn't, that's my place. Thought I'd go for a walk to clear my head... But never mind that," He stared me down with a hurt look. "What was that with you and your sister."

Filled with shame, I looked down at my feet. "Look, I can explain."

He took a few steps forward, "Explain what? How you were pretending to be my friend?" He shook his head. "You know I actually thought... no." He stopped himself. "It doesn't matter."

"You thought what?" I grabbed his hand, trying to calm him down, to keep him there so I could explain. "What doesn't matter?"

"I thought." He took a breath, "Earlier, when you were talking about that guy you liked. I thought maybe you were talking about me." He pulled his hand away abruptly, "Just wishful thinking, I guess."

My stomach dropped to my knees, "Please, I was lying to Bella. You have to trust me."

"Yeah, I've heard that line before, Alice." He turned and started walking back home.

"Please, Jasper! wait!" I shouted after him to no avail.

"Well, that sure was awkward." I heard another voice behind me and turned to see Edward.

"Fuck Ed, Is the entire neighborhood lurking in this park tonight?" I yelled, "Am I going to finish this conversation to find Mrs. Sullivan waiting in the bushes to comment on my romantic life?"

"So, you admit it's your romantic life." He walked over and sat on Bella's abandoned swing.

"I admit nothing." I defended.

"Alice, you can't lie to me. I've known you so long I feel like I can read your mind."

"Even if I did admit that maybe it was my romantic life, clearly, I just blew it." I slunk back down into the swing next to him.

"I wouldn't go that far, Alice. Give him time to cool down, talk to him tomorrow. Tell him how you really feel. Most importantly, ignore your sister."

"Aren't you supposed to take her side?"

"I am," He laughed. "But you're not going to tell Bella I didn't." He stood and offered a hand, "Let's head home... unless you were looking forward to that conversation with Mrs. Sullivan."

I hesitated, "I don't really want to deal with Bella, or mom, or Charlie."

"Well, I can't speak for your parents. But I'll text Bella and let her know you need some space." Relenting, I took his outstretched hand and let him walk me back to my door. "Thanks, Ed. You're a good friend." I hugged him before stepping inside.

Thankfully my parents didn't say anything as I walked past the living room and upstairs to my room. I decided it was time for bed, who knows, maybe this whole day had just been some sort of weird dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited to be able to rework this chapter and have it connect better to chapter one. This was one of my favorite chapters from what was initially posted. It was sad to have cut a lot of the original writing out, but I'm taking this story in a different direction, and I'm really happy with where this is headed. If you're a fluff fan like me, that should be incoming within the next chapter or two as well as the reveal of what Jasper is hiding. His secret is something near and dear to me, and I'm excited to put the emotions it entails into writing.
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone sticking with this, comments mean the world to me, so let me know your thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the original chapter 3. I cut out so much that it's blowing my mind. It had initially included a bizarre motorcycle. If anyone is interested in that, let me know, and I'll post it on Tumblr or something. 
> 
> We'd also written Rosalie initially as a major bitch, and I reworked her lines A LOT. Hopefully, now she comes off as more of a supportive but protective friend.

Any thoughts I'd had the night before of the previous events being my imagination were proven very, very wrong the next day at school.  
Jasper wasn't anywhere to be found, I didn't see him at lunch, and he wasn't in class. I'd seen him at one point in the hall, but he made a point of ignoring me and storming away. He had hardly been in my life for any time at all, and now he was gone. The saddest part was I had just accepted my feelings for him.

"I know it sounds crazy, Rose." I was sitting on the counter of the girl's room while Rosalie touched up her hair and makeup as I stared wistfully out a small window. "But, I kinda miss him."

"Oh my god, Alice," She rolled her eyes. "You're being a little bit pathetic right now." She put a tube of lipstick back in her bag and turned to face me. "You talked to him for all of two days, and he started ignoring you. Let's throw out the part where you pushed him away. He's bad news. I mean, we still don't know what he's hiding. You don't want someone like that in your life anyway."

"Rose, you don't understand."

"No, Alice, I do understand. This is your first crush, I've been there. But again, he's clearly hiding something. Not to mention how creepy it is that he was just silently listening in on your conversation with Bella."

"Is it creepy that Ed was silently listening in on my conversation with Jasper?" I defended.

"No, Alice. We could hear you two yelling from our living room; I think the whole neighborhood heard what happened. Ed wasn't just there lurking; Uncle Carlisle sent him out to make sure you were Ok. I saw everything from the window, and he didn't even reach the park until Jasper had run away." Rosalie had been steadily raising her voice throughout the explanation until she was almost yelling. She stood there staring at me with cold concern until the warning bell rang. "You can and should do what you want, and I will be here to help you pick up the pieces. But for what it's worth, I really think you should forget about him. If you think you're ready to start dating, I'll even set you up."

"Rosalie, I don't want to forget about him. I certainly don't want to just start dating someone random because you think that's what's best for me." I began raising my own voice. "I know you care, and I appreciate it. But for once in my life, I'd like to make my own mistakes, and I am allowed to be upset when something potentially amazing is over before it even happened! You say I should do what I want? Then please stop trying to stand in my way or disregard my feelings!"

I looked away, tears of frustration threatening to fall. Rosalie shook her head and stormed out of the room. I continued sitting there until I heard the final bell and pulled myself down from the counter. I exited the bathroom and walked right into Jasper.

"Honestly, Brandon, you should work on breathing when you talk." He shot me a smile, "And not yelling everything you say."

"When did you add yelling?" I crossed my arms and took a defensive stance.

"When I could hear you and that Rosalie girl having a screaming match in there." He pointed at the bathroom door behind me. "Actually, I think everyone in this hallway could hear you."

"Why does it matter to you, anyway? I thought you were ignoring me?" I was struggling to hold back my tears, the conversation with Rosalie, and the confrontation with Jasper beginning to be too much to handle. "Wait," A realization dawned on me. "Were you waiting for me out here?"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. Why do you care? You're the one who said you didn't care about me."

"I told you I didn't mean that."

"Alice, I..."

"HEY!" A voice called to our left, interrupting whatever Jasper was about to say. I turned to see the Trig teacher poking his head out of a nearby classroom. "You two, get to class. Now!"

"Will do, Sir," Jasper stated in an even tone. "Come on, Alice," He offered his hand, and I took it reluctantly. He led us down the hall, out of the school, and to the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, confused.

"Just trust me, Alice."

I let go of his hand and stopped in my tracks. "Why should I trust you when you don't trust me?" It was all too much, and I was beginning to feel emotional whiplash.

He sighed and turned around to face me, "Do you want to talk things out, or not?"

"I mean, yeah?"

"Then come on," He indicated for me to follow, and he led to to a motorcycle. "Here, safety first." He handed me a helmet before swinging his leg over the bike and motioning for me to get on behind him.

"I don't think this is safe." I'd never ridden a motorcycle before, but I'd heard enough horror stories from Charlie to be weary.

"You trust me, I'll trust you." He looked at me seriously. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you."

"Fine," I relented and tentatively climbed on and wrapped my arms around Jasper's middle. "Just don't kill me." Every story Charlie had ever told me about someone not being careful on one of these death machines flashed through my vision.

I was terrified, and I think he could tell because he gently squeezed my hand before grabbing the handlebars. It was a small gesture, but it did a lot to comfort me. "Ready?" He asked, and I nodded into his shoulder despite not at all being ready. He started the bike and peeled out of the parking lot far too quickly for my liking. Yet, as we flew past house after house, I couldn't help but feel safe riding with Jasper. I just had this feeling I didn't quite understand that he wouldn't let me get hurt. We continued to speed through town until he decided to pull over at a park.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" I screeched, still holding onto him for dear life despite the bike now being perfectly still.

He simply laughed, "Why do you say that?"

"You could have killed us," I started shaking as I finally climbed off the bike. Jasper followed suit, and we walked over to a bench to sit.

"Alice, look, you aren't hurt, I'm not hurt, and we didn't even swerve." He said, laying an arm against the bench behind my shoulders.

I blushed as I thought about how much I wanted that arm around my shoulders. "That's not the point."

"Then what is?" He asked, flashing me that crooked smile.

"You know, I'm not sure anymore."

We both laughed for a moment before he looked at me seriously. "Alice, will you do me a favor?" He broke the silence.

"Depends, what kind of favor?"

"Answer this question honestly," He took a deep breath. "Do you care about me?"

"Well, what do you mean by care?" I asked nervously

"You told your sister... you didn't care about me at all. Do you care?"

"Yes"

"How Much?"

I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest as I made a quick decision, I was going to do this. I was going to tell Jasper how I felt. I took a deep breath and started. "Ok, so you know yesterday when I said there was a guy who I couldn't stop thinking about and maybe had a crush on. Well, I figured out I really do like that guy. And last night when you said you thought maybe that guy was you? Well, you were right, it is you."

I started to feel self-conscious and looked down to stare at my feet. "I only told Bella I didn't care about you, because I care too much. I was still in the middle of figuring out my feelings, and she wouldn't stop pressing the subject. I just wanted her to leave me alone. But then I talked to Edward right after you left. By the way, that park was surprisingly popular for like seven pm on a Wednesday. Anyway, I got off track again. I talked to Edward and figured some stuff out. And now I'm here really really hoping I'm not making a huge fool out of myself. Rose is going to be so mad at me because she wants me to avoid you because she thinks you have some big secret and..."

"ALICE!" I looked up to see him holding back laughter. He reached over and grabbed my hand, "I've been trying to get your attention since you brought up Edward. Calm down, Ok?" He took a deep breath of his own. "I have a crush on you too."

"Oh."

"Just Oh?" He smiled, "Did I manage to leave Alice, one thousand words a minute, Brandon speechless?"

"Shut up," I giggled, swatting his arm playfully.

"Hey, that's supposed to be my line." He said, sliding closer to wrap his arm around my shoulders this time, causing me to chuckle at how moments ago I had wished for just that action. "So, what happens now?"

"I've never really..." I started, but in my periphery, I saw something that brought me to a halt. "CHARLIE?" I jumped to my feet and stared in terror at the sight of my stepfather's police cruiser. It had driven by the park before coming to a halt about a block off.

"Shit," Jasper swore. "Time to go." He grabbed my hand, and we ran back to his bike and hurriedly took off.

I clung to him in panic and buried my head in his back. "I am so dead." I was going to be grounded for the rest of my life. I was already failing a class and now skipping school with a boy? Charlie was going to have a heart attack. My mom's look of disappointment was already beginning to etch itself into my brain.

"Alice, It's going to be Ok." He stopped the bike in front of the school. "But I recommend you start running now." He pointed at the doors where most of the student body was filing out.

I gave him a quick squeeze and ran, spotting Bella, I hurried to her side. "What the hell Alice, where were you for last period?" She asked me in her own panic.

"Long story," I said, trying to catch my breath. "If Charlie asks, I've been with you all day."

Her eyes narrowed, "Where exactly were you."

"I already told you, long story."

"Well, try to sum it up!"

"Jasper?" I offered as some sort of explanation.

"You rang?" Jasper said, appearing from the crowd and placing an arm around my waist, causing me to blush furiously.

Bella smiled and shot me a look letting me know we were definitely continuing this conversation later. "So Jasper, nice arm. Am I missing something?"

"Yes," I glared, "Your cue to leave."

"Come on, Alice, let her stay."

"But..." I pouted. "Jasper!"

"Alice."

"BELLA!" The brunette shouted, causing us to look at her in confusion. She sheepishly looked away. "I just wanted to be popular."

"You're not," Rosalie commented, walking past us.

"Did she just?" Jasper asked

"Yeah, it happens." Bella sighed. "Anyway, you're supposed to go straight home. Dad's looking for you; he sent me a text during last period."

"What did you tell him!" I asked in alarm.

"That last time I saw you, you were in the bathroom with Rose."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, I mentioned seeing a girl that fits your description getting on a motorcycle instead of going to last period."

"Damnit. Bella!"

"Relax, I'm kidding. I told dad the part about Rosalie, but I didn't sell you out. I told dad I texted Ed to ask if you were in class and that he said you were sitting right next to him."

"Oh, well... thanks."

"It'll be fine," Jasper pulled me closer to his side, almost like a guard.

"LIL BRO," Jasper looked up at the noise to see Emmett walking over to us with Rosalie. The later seemed concerned by my close proximity to Jasper. "So I saw you two take off during last period. Everything Ok?"

"Yeah, it's all good."

"You checked lately?"

"Yes, soon as we got back." Jasper rolled his eyes.

"And?" Emmett pressed.

"122, it's fine, Em."

Emmett seemed to approve of this information and moved on. "So what happened after you two took off? I'm honestly impressed you got lovely miss Alice to get on the back of that death trap."

"Well, Alice isn't a normal human." Rose laughed tensely. "Besides, she's too nice to be rude. She probably just didn't want to hurt his feelings again." She seemed to catch herself on how those words might be interpreted. "I mean, It's not like she doesn't genuinely like you, Jasper. Honestly, you should see her homework." She cringed at the realization of her words.

"What homework?" Jasper asked, looking from me to Rose curiously.

"You know what, I didn't say anything. I was never here." She reached into her bag and pulled out my notebook, "You left this in math, I was going to give it back to you." Unfortunately, her hands were shaking with embarrassment, and as she went to hand it back to me, she dropped it.

Emmett swooped down to pick it up before I'd even had a chance to react. He looked at the open page, then at me, then Jasper, and finally Rosalie. He then closed the notebook and successfully handed it back to me. "Looks like a normal homework assignment to me." He shrugged before grabbing Rosalie's hand, "Come on, we should go."

"So, what was that all about?" Jasper asked.

"Oh," Bella intervened. "Probably just her report on the endangered Jasper plant. Apparently, it's a big deal."

"Yeah, gotta save the world, you know... YAY TREES" I smiled, hoping he bought it.

"I've never heard of a Jasper plant." He smirked.

"Exactly, that's why I'm doing the report. To spread awareness and all." I blushed. "Anyway," I pulled away from him. "I guess I'm under orders to go straight home, so... text me later?"

"Definitely," He smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't love this chapter, I've never loved this chapter. I think though that this is the best it's going to get while retaining the majority of the original plot. 
> 
> In the next chapter, we'll find out what Jasper's secret is for those who haven't figured it out yet. If you HAVE figured it out, send me a message. I'm really interested to see if anyone's picked up on it. Or if you haven't figured it out, leave a review anyway ;)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who's left kudos. You guys give me the encouragement to keep pushing through this.

When I arrived home, mom and Charlie were waiting for me in the kitchen. "Alice, come take a seat." My mom called sternly. I grimaced as I slowly shuffled my way into the room and took a seat at the island. "Alice," She looked at me with disappointment. "Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

"Not really." It wasn't technically a lie; I didn't exactly want to tell my parents that I'd skipped last period to go for a motorcycle ride with a cute guy.

"Alice." Charlie warned, "I saw you today at a park during school hours. Rosalie confirmed that you weren't in class. You're caught, and getting your sister to lie for you isn't going to get you out of the hole you've dug yourself."

"If you're just honest with us, this will be a lot easier for you, sweetie." My mom chirped from his side.

"Well, the truth is... I got into a fight with Rose. I was having trouble keeping it together, and Ja... a friend of mine thought maybe getting some fresh air would be a good idea?" I offered in explanation.

"That boy seemed awfully close for a 'friend'" Charlie looked at me, making it clear he was giving me one final chance to offer up the truth.

"Fine! The boy you saw me with is a new kid; his name is Jasper. He's been helping me with history. I kind of like him, and he kind of likes me, but nothing's happened yet. We got into a fight last night because Bella has been on my case about the whole thing. Rose and I did get into a fight because she doesn't like him and thinks she's protecting me. Then Jasper wanted to talk things out. So, yes. I skipped last period. To go on a motorcycle ride, to hang out with my maybe-boyfriend. It has been a long, rough three days!"

Mom and Charlie looked at me, then each other, and then back at me. Finally, mom spoke up, "I think you should go to your room, your father and I need to talk."

I was upset, and I wanted to point out that Charlie was NOT my father. Charlie was a good step-up guy, and I truly appreciated having him in my life. But he was still not my father, but those were emotions to deal with some other time. I didn't need to make things worse for myself, and being alone didn't sound like the worst thing right now. So I obliged and made my way to my room. I threw myself onto my bed face first. I assumed they were probably going to take away my phone for at least a month, so I'd better get my use out of it while I could. Unlocking the screen, I noticed I'd received two texts from Jasper and one from Rose.  
I decided to read Jasper's first.

"Hey, I had fun today."  
"Hope you don't get in too much trouble. I'd love to hang out again under better circumstances <3."

I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face at the sweet words and heart emoji. I quickly responded. "They're still debating my punishment. I'll let you know." I bit my lip, debating my options. Should I send my own emoji? Was that too forward? What if the one he'd sent was a mistake? Maybe he'd meant a smiley or something and hit the heart and didn't realize until after he'd sent it. Then it hit me, I was done debating, today I was taking risks, and I wasn't going to leave a single regret on the table. Today was for making moves and dealing with the consequences later. I added the damn heart and hit send.

Smiling to myself, I opened to text from Rose.  
"Alice, can you come over if your parents will let you? I think I have a lot to apologize for :("  
Well, I thought. That was certainly unexpected. Rose wanted to apologize to me? Why?

I didn't have much time to think this over before I heard a knock on my door, followed by my mom and Charlie entering without waiting for my response. I sat up criss-cross on the bed and turned to face the pair.  
"Alice," Charlie began. "Your mother and I have talked it over. It seems like you've been under a lot of stress, and you've always been a good kid. Seems a shame to be too harsh with you." He paused for dramatic effect. "At least this time, we won't be so easy going if it happens again."

My mom put and hand on his arm and spoke. "There are some conditions, though, no phone for the rest of the night." She reached out her hand, and I reluctantly handed it over. "Also, your father and I would like to meet this Jasper fellow."

"Um, yeah." I swallowed, "Alright, then like right now or?"

"Not necessarily," Mom responded, "soon, though."

"So, is it cool if I go next door? Rose wanted to talk to me about something."

Mom nodded in approval before leaving the room with Charlie. I took a minute to collect myself before making my way downstairs and out the door. All things considered, that really could have gone a lot worse. One night with no phone wasn't the worst thing. They wanted to meet Jasper, though, that was nervewracking. I couldn't wonder how much of this had to do with my actions, and how much had to do with Bella's — remembering how freaked out Charlie had been when she and Edward had skipped school to go Seattle for the day last year. Thinking about how she'd been grounded for a month made me laugh as I knocked on the Cullen's door.

"Alice, Sweetheart!" Esme exclaimed, opening the door. "What a pleasant surprise!" She ushered me inside, closing the door behind me. "What brings you over, dear. You've stayed away far too long." I loved Esme, she was one of the kindest people I'd ever met, and I scolded myself for not visiting more often. "You know, she continued. I've been worried about you since the other night. We could hear your argument from the living room."

"Yeah," I chuckled. "Rose mentioned that."

Esme smiled warmly, "You know, dear. If you're having any problems, I'm always here with a hug, a hot cup of tea, and an ear to listen."

"Thank's Esme," I smiled warmly. I always felt safe and calm in her presence. If I had to pick a person as a second mother-figure, I'd pick Esmee any day. "Honestly, I don't really want to talk about it right now. But I'll take you up on one of those hugs." She smiled in a way that communicated understanding and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"Now, you never answered my question." She said, releasing me. "What brings you over?"

"I wanted to talk to Rose, is she home?"

"Yes, she's up in her room. I'm glad you came to see her; she let me in on what happened earlier. I think the two of you need a nice heart to heart."

"Thanks, Esme," I said, climbing the impressive staircase and making my way to Rosalie's room. The door was left open, and Rose was sitting on a chair in the corner by a large window. "Hey," I said, walking into the room. "I got your text."

"Alice!" Rose jumped.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no! Come in, shut the door, please." I obliged, closing the door gently and crossing the room to take a seat in the chair opposite her. Rosalie took a deep breath before speaking. "Alice, I have so much to be sorry for." I opened my mouth to question what she was talking about, but she held up a finger. "Please, don't interrupt. When you and Jasper left the school, I was worried about your safety and called Charlie, and I'm sorry for ratting you out. I'm sure you're in a ton of trouble because of me. I'm sorry we fought earlier, and I'm sorry for almost showing Jasper your notebook. I was trying to make up for my behavior and just made things even worse. And I'm sorry for how I've been acting about Jasper. Emmett and I argued while the two of you were off doing whatever. I know the secret, and I feel like such a bitch."

Rosalie was on the verge of tears by the end of her confession. I wanted to be mad, but I could tell the guilt was weighing on her. And after all, her heart was in the right place. "Rose, I forgive you. I mean, I'm a little upset that you told on me, but I know you thought you were doing what was best."

"Hugs?" She asked tentatively.

"Hugs." I agreed, standing to embrace my difficult friend. "So, I asked, sitting back down. "What's the big secret?"

"I can't tell you, Emmett swore me to secrecy. Just, Jasper's really insecure about it, so maybe let him tell you in his own time."

"Ok," I submitted, curiosity building.

The door then opened, and Esme stuck her head in the room, "Girls, would the two of you mind coming downstairs? A Jasper is here asking to speak to you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to be a bit rough for a bit, we have officially exited the territory of filling in the blanks of what was already written. Now we're at a point where it's all just me. I know what plot points I need to touch on; they've already been set up. You just don't realize that yet. Right now, though, I have to figure out how to connect what's there to where this is going. So please be patient, I plan to continue working on this daily.  
> This fic has already been abandoned twice, and I'm determined to make the third time the charm.  
> Please review, it means so much more than you think <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we get started, I want to give a special shout out to 'Gio.A.D' over on FFN. They are working on an Italian translation of this story over at EEP. If you're an Italian speaker or are learning Italian, you should absolutely go check that out.

Rosalie and I stared at Esme in confusion, processing the information, and in my case, trying to figure out why Jasper would be here. "Well, come on, girls." Esme encouraged. I glanced at Rose, who merely shrugged, and we made our way downstairs.

As we entered the dining room, we saw Jasper sitting at the table, looking slightly terrified as he made small talk with Esme. "Hey Jasper," I spoke, interrupting the tense conversation.

"Alice?" He looked over at Rosalie and I in confusion. "I didn't realize you were here."

I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. "Why are you here, then?" Rosalie questioned.

"I need to talk to you actually," He nodded at Rose. "Is there somewhere we could talk alone?"

Rosalie eyed him carefully before heading toward the living room, gesturing for him to follow. After the pair had left the room, I sat down at the table with Esme.

"Alice," Esme said after a moment. "Is everything Ok?"

I hadn't realized I'd been staring out the window and fidgeting with the table cloth. Looking Esme in the eyes, I opened up to the caring woman. "I like Jasper a lot; it's weird because you know I've never liked someone before. We skipped final period today and went to a park, and he told me he likes me too. I'm not sure what to do with all these feelings, and I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down."

Esme smiled at me with understanding, "Alice, sweetheart. This is your first venture into having romantic feelings for someone. It's perfectly normal for you to feel overwhelmed and confused. I would advise you to take things slow so both of you can figure it out. Be honest with him and yourself. I believe that everything is going to be Ok." She paused to take a sip of the tea she had sitting in front of her. "And no more skipping classes, don't lose who you are in the throes of a new relationship."

I smiled, "Thank you, Esme, you always have the best advice." I continued to catch her up on the events of the past few days until Rosalie and Jasper returned.

Rosalie took a seat next to Esme, and Jasper looked at me with a pained expression. "Alice, would you like to come over to my house?"

"Oh," I frowned, "I"m in a bit of trouble after earlier. I don't think it's a good idea to push mom and Charlie too much right now."

Rosalie leaned in towards Esme and whispered something in her ear. "Alice," Esme said, "Don't worry about your parents; I'll call and talk to them. I think it's a good idea to go see what Jasper has to say."

I gave Esme a curious look before relenting, I trusted her, and if Esme thought she could smooth things over, I believed her. "Alright then, let's go, Jasper."

Jasper was silent, with a worried look on his face as we walked to his house. His behavior pulled on my heartstrings, and I reached over to hold his hand in a burst of confident compassion. He smiled at the gesture and seemed to relax if only slightly. "Well, here we are." He said quietly, holding open his front door for me. I walked inside and took in the surroundings. The house was small, with a similar layout to my own. Emmett was sat on a couch in the living room playing a video game.  
Jasper led me down a short hallway into his bedroom; he sat on the bed and indicated for me to sit next to him. He stared at me for a moment that felt like an eternity before taking a deep breath and speaking.  
"So, I know Rosalie has been on your case about something I've been hiding."

"Yeah, she's been worried, but she told me she talked to your brother today, and everything is fine."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I went to talk to Rosalie; I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to tell anybody." He frowned and began nervously playing with a loose string on his comforter. "She said she wouldn't, but she also encouraged me to tell you what's going on." He turned so he could face me better. "So, I'm sure you've noticed some things. I make frequent trips to the nurse; I leave the room a lot after checking my phone, how quick my temper was the other night in the park." I didn't say anything but nodded, encouraging him to continue.

He took another deep breath and closed his eyes before speaking. "Alice, I'm type one diabetic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was a shorter chapter, but I really liked ending on that impact. Because it's so short, I plan to take a quick break from my other story to pump out another chapter as soon as possible.
> 
> I also want to apologize for taking so long to get this out, my only terrible excuse is that the holidays are hectic for me. Thank you guys for being patient, and as always, I'm looking forward to the reviews. Are you guys excited about the big reveal, I'm excited to get to work on the next chapter and talking about Jasper's emotions regarding his condition.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: This chapter goes from boring to dark in a hurry. If anyone shows interest, I can consider adding a TLDR to the end. This chapter is critical, though, as it sets up future plotlines and makes sense of a few things. So while it may be a chore to read, it's necessary for future events to make sense.

"Oh." I stared at Jasper for a moment taking in his revelation. Diabetic, that was something I absolutely had not been expecting. Of course, I knew very little about the condition. I had a lot of questions but wasn't sure how to ask them.

"Yeah," He bit his lip and looked at anything in the room aside from me. "So, if you don't want anything to do with me anymore, I understand."

"Why wouldn't I want anything to do with you just because you have diabetes?" I asked him, confused. I did know it wasn't contagious and didn't change him as a person. I couldn't fathom why he would think that.

"Well, it's a lot to deal with, and it's a big part of why I didn't have many friends at my old school." He finally looked at me, cautiously convinced I wasn't going to run for the hills.

"I can't say I know much about diabetes, but I can say I know it's not a reason to completely ostracise a person." I slid closer and took his hand. "I'm not going anywhere, so why don't you start by explaining all those behaviors you mentioned in context."

"Ok." He nodded and squeezed my hand. "Well, for starters, my phone is connected to this thing in my arm... hold on." He let go of my hand and lifted his sleeve to reveal an oval piece of plastic in his arm. "This is a continuous glucose monitor; it checks my blood every few minutes to tell me what my blood sugar is in real-time." He moved his sleeve back down and lifted his shirt slightly to reveal a piece of circular blue plastic attached to his stomach. The plastic piece was connected to a tube that led to a small black device clipped to his jeans. He unclipped the equipment from his jeans and moved his shirt back into position. "The sensor is connected to this; it's called an insulin pump. The name is pretty self-explanatory; it pumps my insulin to me throughout the day instead of taking shots all the time. The sensor tells the pump what my sugars are and determines how much to give me. The sensor is also connected to my phone, so when it makes that beeping noise, it's telling me that my sugar is either too high or too low, and I need to go take care of it manually."

"That's a lot of information." I bit my lip, I didn't want to sound silly, but I was also struggling to keep up. "What do you mean by blood sugar?"

"Oh," He chuckled, "I get so used to talking about this with Emmett and my parents that I forget not everyone knows the basics. When you eat things with carbs and sugar, it goes into your bloodstream. Your pancreas provides insulin to help process it out. My pancreas decided it doesn't want to do its job, so I have to provide my own. That means I have to check my blood often to figure out how much insulin to take," He hit a button on the pump and showed it to me. "For instance, you see that number in the middle of the screen? That's my current blood sugar." I slid in close so I could see better. There was a blue shield in the middle of the screen with a number reading 157. "That's a little high, but it's probably because I'm nervous right now."

He clipped the pump back to his pants and continued speaking. "If that number goes too high, I'll get thirsty, tired, and I'll feel sick. I have to take more insulin to get it back down, or I'll get sick and need to go to the hospital. If it goes too low, I get shaky and confused and a bit irrational." He turned sad at that moment and hung his head. "That's what happened the other night in the park; it's not a good reason for how I acted. I'll never use my diabetes as an excuse for my actions, but I do think you deserve an explanation."

"I appreciate the explanation, and I do forgive you." I said, squeezing his hand, causing him to look back up at me, "So is that why Emmett keeps asking you for those numbers?"

"Yeah, it's annoying, but he's just looking out. I'd probably do the same if the situation were reversed."

"You said it was high because you're nervous. Does your mood affect things that much?"

"Yeah, it does. My mood, how much water I drink, if I eat something without thinking about it, if I get extra activity in, just about everything can make my sugar go up or down."

"Wow, that must be really frustrating." I squeezed his hang again. I knew managing diabetes couldn't be easy, but this really did sound like a lot of work.

"It is, actually, this is the part I'm nervous about. I want to tell you something that I haven't told many people." He looked at me as if asking if that was Ok and I nodded, glad he felt comfortable talking about all of this with me. He took a deep breath before continuing, still staring at his feet. "It is frustrating; back in Texas, everyone knew about me. Not only did I have to deal with learning how to manage all this, but the other students weren't exactly cool about it. I didn't have many friends there, and about half a year after diagnosis, my girlfriend broke things off with me because it was too much for her to handle. We're friends now; it was never a good match, to begin with, but it hit me hard at the time. So about two years ago, I sort of gave up. I stopped paying attention to my doctors, I only took the minimum about of insulin to stay alive, stopped checking my sugar, ate whatever I wanted when I wanted, and just damned the consequences."

"What happened?" I whispered, sliding in closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a half-hug that I hoped was comforting.

"Well, I caught the flu. Being sick is another thing that can throw things out of control. The way I was treating myself sent me completely off the rails. I don't want to go into the graphic details of that night, but I remember my mom rushing me into the hospital. They'd just begun the process of admitting me, and I was lying on this stretcher and." He looked away from me. "I was staring at the ceiling, unable to move, and the lights sort of faded out. It was just like on TV. I woke up three hours later; the doctor told me I'd been dead for three minutes, and I'd probably shaved a few years off my lifespan." Jasper stared at me, fear evident in his eyes. "Are you Ok? I know that's a lot to unload on you."

"Yeah." I nodded; I was shaken from the story but didn't need him to know that. "I'm fine; just, it's a lot to unpack. Are things better now?" I asked him; hopefully, I hated this idea of him going through so much when he didn't ask for any of it.

"They are, my parents got me into therapy, and that's helped a lot. It's why Emmett is on my case about things, though; I scared the shit out of him and mom. It's also part of why I eat in the nurse's office, I keep telling them I'm not going to do that again, but they've kept a watchful eye on me. The other reason is, mealtime requires me to count and weigh my food and manually check my sugars. It's just a lot easier to keep it a secret if people can't see my doing all that stuff."

We both stayed quiet for a while; he'd just given me a LOT of information. I wanted to be there for him, but I also wanted to go home and process all of this. I just had one more question. "Is there anything I should or shouldn't do around you? I know you're the same person you were before this conversation. I just don't want to annoy or offend you."

A grin spread across his face, "Alice, of all the things I expected you to say, that was not on the list."

"What were you expecting."

"You to say this was too much to deal with, and you didn't want to..." He bit his lip. "Anyway, um, just treat me normal. I mean, if I'm acting weird, you can ask if I'm Ok. But don't ask if I need to check my sugar; I hate that. Don't ask me if I can eat something that's already in front of me. If you see something online that claims it will help, don't tell me about it. There's a bunch of things; I'm having trouble thinking of them on the spot."

"That's Ok." I smiled; this had to be a lot for him. I was very overwhelmed; I couldn't imagine how much of a toll this was taking on him. "How about we press pause on this conversation and talk some more later?"

He bit his lip, "Sure, that sounds good."

"So, I'd really love to stay and play some games or something. But my mom and Charlie are pretty upset, so I should get home." I stood up and made my way to the door.

"Yeah," He frowned. "I'm sorry if you got in a lot of trouble because of me."

"I didn't really, just lost phone privileges for the night." I paused, was now a good time to bring up that my parents wanted to meet him? Was that too much to let him in on after such a huge conversation? He'd been so honest with me that it felt wrong to keep him in the dark on something so simple. "There was one condition, they want to meet you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank EVERYONE who read this chapter, I've been T1D for 15 years, and this was very therapeutic to write. If anyone has any questions about T1D, please feel free to ask in a review or send me a message at allicekitty13.tumblr.com. I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have. I feel like we spend a lot of time talking about the insulin crisis, and that's important because real people are really affected my this. But we don't really talk about the people who live with this every day and the struggles we face. That's why when re-writing this, I wanted to write Jasper as a diabetic. 
> 
> Jasper's CGM in this fic is modeled after the Medtronic Guardian and the pump after the Minimed 670. I know the guardian doesn't offer phone alerts yet. I originally wanted to use the Dexcom/T-Slim combo for that reason, but having never used it, I didn't feel confident writing about how it works.
> 
> Again, thank you for reading and be sure to leave a review!! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go guys, the long-awaited chapter 10. I'm not even going to defend myself for the wait this time. I honestly dropped the ball here.

"They want to what?" He looked at me in shock.

"One of the conditions of not grounding me was meeting you. I mean, if you don't want to, I can probably just tell them I'd rather be grounded for a month like Bella was that one time. She and Edward skipped an entire Friday to go to Seattle. I mean, I just skipped one period, so I'll probably only be grounded for a week. I know that's a lot to ask, especially after you just shared something so personal with me, so I totally understand if you want to pass..." I stopped when I heard him laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You know, you're really cute when you word vomit like that." He said when he stopped laughing. 

"You think I'm cute?"

Jasper got up and walked over to were I was standing in the doorway and wrapped me in a hug. "I think you're the cutest." He let me go and continued. "Tell your mom and Charlie I'd love to meet them." 

"You didn't call him my dad." I beamed in amazement.

"Well, you told me yesterday you weren't comfortable calling him your dad, so I figured you didn't like other people calling him your dad either." 

"You're the only person in my life to make that connection. I've always been too polite to correct anyone. It means a lot that you paid attention to my rambling enough to catch on to that." Deciding once again that today was for being bold, I perched myself up on my tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek. "See you tomorrow!" I exclaimed before bolting from the house before I could see his reaction, just barely catching Emmett's call of "Bye Alice." as I rushed outside.

I ran all the way home, only to be greeted by my trio of friends waiting outside on my front steps.

"How did it go?" Rosalie asked nervously.

"What did you guys talk about." Chimed in Edward.

"Did you kiss!" Prodded Bella.

I decided to address them in order. "It went well, thank you, Rose. I'm not telling you guys what we talked about. And yes, kind of but not really." 

"WHAT!" They all chorused in unison. 

"I mean, he said something really sweet, so I kissed him on the cheek." I plopped down on the empty stair next to Rosalie. "But then I panicked and ran away before he could say anything. I bet he's super upset now and I messed everything up. He's just so cute, and he paid attention to something important I let slip while rambling, and I really wanted too. I've been making all these bold choices today and not worrying about the consequences until literally right now." 

I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. Maybe I'd been talking to many risks. I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Rose. "I can call Emmett and see if he's Okay if that would make you feel better."   
I nodded as she pulled out her phone and made the call putting it on speaker as he picked up.

"Heya Rosie." 

Rosalie blushed at the nickname before remembering why she was calling. "Hey, Em, could you do Alice and me a favor and check on your brother?" 

"Sure?" He questioned in confusion; we could hear him pause his video game and get up to head to his brother's room. "So, he's kind of just frozen in place in his doorway. Do you two know something about this?" His tone was a bit scary as he went into big brother mode.

"Alice kissed him and ran away." Rosalie giggled

"Okay, but why'd she run away?"

"Yes." She responded. 

"Okay then, well, I'm gonna make sure my catatonic brother is alright. So I'll talk to you later." 

"Thanks, Em." Rosalie hung up the phone and looked back at me, "So you left him speechless. Could be worse, I'm sure he'll text you later." 

I frowned, realizing at that moment I wouldn't be getting any closure that night. Bella seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she reminded Rose that I wouldn't have my phone again until morning. "You know." Rose grimaced, "I'm just gonna head home before my big mouth makes anything worse today." With that, she stood and ran across the lawn to her own home. 

"I'm sure everything is gonna be fine." Edward stood ready to follow his cousin. "You'll see him tomorrow, he clearly likes you, so I doubt he's gonna be terribly offended by a kiss." With that, he pecked Bella on the cheek and followed Rosalie's direction. 

I shared a look with Bella, who gave me nothing but a shrug as we headed inside for family dinner.   
Once we got inside, we headed for the dining room where mom, Charlie, and Cynthia were already waiting for us. Mom and Charlie looked at me apprehensively as I sat, and I could tell there would be a talk after dinner.

As I dished out my plate, Cynthia began giggling and blurted out. "Alice has a boyfriend!" and looked at Charlie, likely expecting me to get in trouble. 

"Does she." Mom eyed her with a slight smile.

I blinked a few times at the statement; we hadn't actually addressed the whole 'boyfriend/girlfriend' thing. "I'm not sure if I'd call it that." I stammered. 

"I mean, you did kiss him." Bella blurted out through a mouthful of food as if that was an entirely appropriate thing to announce at dinner in front of our parental figures. 

With a grimace, I looked up at mom and Charlie, who eyed me with raised brows waiting for a response. "I mean, it was just on the cheek. It's not like it's a big deal..."

"Your first kiss!" Mom exclaimed with a massive grin as Charlie glared down at his plate.

"Mom, it was nothing."

"Of course, it wasn't nothing, we'll have to talk about this after dinner." She giggled, likely already plotting out how best to go about giving me the talk again. 

"You know, I'm actually exhausted, and it's been a long day." I slid out of my chair, looking at my mom and Charlie. "I think I'm actually going to go to bed."

"But, you've hardly touched your food, sweetheart." Mom indicated to my mostly full plate of meatloaf, I'd only managed a few bites between the barrage of questions. "Besides, your father and I would like to talk with you about the phone call we got from Mrs. Cullen this afternoon." 

"Can we please talk about it tomorrow? I really am tired." I directed the statement to Charlie with a pleading look, praying he'd take it as an opportunity to avoid the inevitable boy talk mom would want to cover with Bella and I after my sort of kiss this afternoon. 

"Let her go to bed, Lilly, we can talk tomorrow." Charlie granted my prayers. I mouthed a silent thank you in his direction was my mom redirected her attention to Cynthia and sped up the stairs before they could change their minds. 

I changed quickly into pajamas and plopped backward onto my bed, not even bothering with my blankets. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift over the events of the day, from arguing and making up with Rosalie and Jasper. Then ending up ditching class and getting grounded and finally finding out such personal information about my maybe-boyfriend. It was hard to believe it had all been condensed into the span of a day. Despite my tired mind and body, the vast enormity of it all was keeping me awake. 

Eventually, I rolled over, finally pulling the blankets over my body to force myself to get some sleep in preparation for facing the consequences of my many bold actions in the morning. However, shortly after making this decision, I was startled by a clinking noise against my window. I stood up in confusion and crossed the room to open the window. Looking down, I saw Jasper standing in my side yard, holding a handful of rocks and a carryout bag of Taco Bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope the wait was worth it. Leave a review if you're still reading this. Also, anyone still invested in this story in the year 2020 has my eternal gratitude. You guys deserve some sort of award for putting up with me and the MANY struggles this fic has gone through over the past decade.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at allicekitty13.tumblr.com/


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